I spend the majority of my time with two types of people: one, those active on the social web, and two, my clients who are working with me to learn how to integrate the social web into their marketing.

Speaking of the former, here are some of the ways I spend my time attempting to engage with people and (hopefully) share some value:

1. Hosting a radio show.

2. Blogging. In a lot of places.

3. Experimenting with a lot of video.

4. Hanging out with friends on Twitter.

5. Spending time reading and reviewing content on my RSS feed. [I don't read newspapers, or magazines, or watch much TV. I spend that time here. Learning.]

Seems pretty normal to me. But every now and then I step back and get smacked upside the head when I realize that a MAJORITY of the people on the planet don’t spend their time this way. They do their “normal” things. But many look at me as if I was from another world…

Let’s use LinkedIn for example. I recently was part of a training program teaching sales people about incorporating the social web into their marketing. In that session? Just two people – out of 25 – had a LinkedIn account. And more recently, I spent the day with the top sales leaders of a large corporation. Afterwards, a quick review of those same sales leaders on LinkedIn showed that, while they had an account on LinkedIn, most had 50 or fewer connections, and did not appear to be active.

It was a “palm smack on the forehead” moment for me, realizing that most people are not engaging these tools in a way I am accustomed to using them, or my close friends in the Twitter echo-chamber are using them.

And that’s why I need to remind myself each day that there is a whole world outside of my tight circle of Twitter comrades. So here are the lessons I am learning for myself – and concepts you need to think about – about how to interact with both our customers and prospects:

1. You can’t force the social web on people. If you do, they will resist and take NO action.

2. You can’t explain the social web once, and expect them to suddenly have their own “palm smack on the forehead” moment and get it. It will require repetition on your part, and their own willingness to explore.

3. Yeah, the world is moving in this direction, but not by tomorrow…

4. We have to change tact, and focus on teaching and educating people. If we are “telling” and “broadcasting” – they will resist, or at least not learn.

5. I have to demonstrate these things by example. Show what works, and what doesn’t.

6. I have to have patience with people. They will come around. Or they just won’t (and that’s ok too). Some people still use phones with cords…

7. Some people need permission from superiors. And we need to understand that will likely gum up the works. But just remember that not everyone will see this as clearly as you might…

8. There are people who profess to be experts, who proclaim to help people build community, that don’t actually fully understand and/or embrace the social web themselves… It is ok to teach and help them too… It is also important to remember that people you are interacting with may have been “taught” by one of these “experts” – so help them too…

I now understand that most people view me as an oddball. They can’t comprehend that I spend all this time writing on blogs, shooting (and sharing) all this video, and engaging with folks on Twitter. It is just not in their nature or DNA, or more likely their current level of understanding.

What they need to understand is that I believe this to be the future of marketing and how people will connect. And while I believe this is the future, I also know that you can impact your marketplace TODAY – by engaging this way.

You may feel the grass is greener on your side of the alien landscape. But just remember – not everyone is there. Bring them along for the ride, slowly, carefully, patiently…teaching and helping as you go!

What do you think?

[cartoon by @gapingvoid - this cartoon, btw, is now the wallpaper on my MacBook - to remind me that I have to educate and teach people to understand this alien landscape that I live on...]

Matt Geier

[Editor's Note: This is a guest post from Matt Geier of The Sales Corner Blog]

When I was invited to be a guest author on High Velocity Blog, I was surprised by the invitation. It was simply unexpected. After all, it was me following up with the person in my network as to how they were doing. Low and behold, after some brief conversation, I’m asked for my guest authorship for High Velocity Blog. Wow. I say that, because you just never know what’s around the next bend in the road. It’s times like this, I’m constantly reminded of how important relationships are to someone, and how they can and will help you through your business endevours, each and every day.

With the invitation to write blooming over me, I took a breath and sat back in my chair to mull over the question. I had to think what to write about. I’m always flowing with ideas on various subject matter.

When an opportunity like this happens, as an entrepreneur, what you do or have been doing for others, becomes interesting in a lot of ways. The interest is then translated into some form of value to those around you, the people in your network, and the people in the networks of your customers and other relationships. People want value in their relationships. This is important.

When you have an opportunity or subject to talk about or an idea spread around, or something meaning fully to do with others, you should. Hopefully what you do, has value to that person or prospect. If not, you might be beating a dead horse. But if it does, and if you are doing something good, throw out the word and build on it with others. By building on your ideas, with others, you create a network of needed individuals to help you grow your business.

I have clients ask me what I think of their ideas, or concepts, or their next product visions. I’ve helped many people launch their ideas online, and grow their networks to get them visibility. Sometimes it’s the form of websites, articles, or just spreading the word to their network and my own network of people. Sometimes it’s just being there for them to answer those “stupid” questions a lot of people I know would scoff and discard as someone looking for a handout.

I like handouts. It’s how I started my business.

Most of my clients meet me after they have discussed something with their family or people in their exsiting networks. Often, our family and closest friends are the people that know us best. They are also the ones that will not hesitate to criticize and condemn us when they think we are off on the wrong foot. Sometimes they think we are challenging them, and their own visions, and sometimes they take an aggressive stance toward us.

I wonder how many of you have had an idea that could have turned into the next multi-million dollar project?

I wonder how would you know if you never took the time to get your idea off the ground running after you talked about it to others?

I wonder what you can do to get your ideas out, and get others opinions on them, and then continue to grow those ideas and build a network for yourself full of valuable relationships?

So what can you do to help get noticed and start a network of like mindedness? Here’s a few things you can do to help create, expand, and retain your network of “like minded individuals.” By enacting these ideas, and continuing to give them constant tlc (tender loving care), you will find yourself in a valuable network of people that want to hear from you, and people that will seek you out when they need something. Today, you can start to build your own business, grow your own network, and find your own valuable people that want to hear what you have to say;

Start a You Tube Channel;
You Tube has presented a way for the common business or houshold to let people in their doors. People here are “real” and want others to pay attention to what they have recorded! You’ll find it all. Hopefully after you read this, if you’re not there, you will be!

Start a Twitter Network;
People ask me what to do with “this Twitter thing” and I simply tell them it’s a “Micro Blogging” tool for them to communicate to their audience. Depending on what you do, may depend on how you use Twitter. The important thing is to use it, and use it actively if you want people to pay attention to you.

Start a Facebook Network;
If you’ve grown up with Myspace and Linkedin, are you on Facebook? Do you have your business there? If not, this is another place you should be active! Facebook users are growing. The ways you can use Facebook are becoming more valuable to it’s users with such invents like Facebook Ad’s, Fanpages, and more.

For now, we will let you ponder these things.

Perhaps you’re doing them today.

How is that working for you?

Remember, there’s always a room to go to, or an area in your business you can focus on. Find out what are some areas in your own “business” you want to focus on; then do it!

Just like we were doing when we followed up with our network to see how they were doing!

It happened again…

I was speaking with someone about starting a blog, and I got the “I just don’t know what the hell I would write about” excuse again…

After getting over my desire to stab my eyes with pencils, I collected myself, and started asking a few simple questions:

“Could you write about some cool customer stories about how you helped them?”
“Yes,” he answered.

“If you devoted 30 minutes, could you write down at least 25 ‘helpful tips’ related to your expertise to share with your market? You know, so you could become known as a go-to guy?”
“Well, duh, yeah,” he said, mockingly.

“Are there experts in your field that have done some great writing in your space…that you could feature, spotlight, and add commentary?”
“Oh, there is a lot of great content out there,” he replied.

“Do you have any customers, partners, friends, or prospects that could generate some cool guest posts?”
“Tons,” he said.

“What about doing some fun ‘Man on the Street’ interviews, where you ask random people some questions about your service offering, or about the problems you can help them solve?”
“Oh, that’s a way cool idea,” he said, excitedly!

I stopped there.

“Well my friend, see? There are tons of ways to generate content for your blog! We just came up with dozens and dozens of ideas,” I said.

He furrowed his brow, reflected for a moment, and said “Well, I sure don’t want to give away any of my expertise, and I sure as hell don’t want to showcase any potential competition. I have to write about me, and why they should hire me.”

To which, I replied, “no wonder you can’t think of anything. You’re right. You shouldn’t blog.”

I then went to go find some pencils…

[cartoon by @gapingvoid]

1. On January 1st of this year, this post by Julien Smith inspired me to read one book a week in 2010.
2. Business authors are pretty darn important to us here in the High Velocity organization with our Video Dust Jacket Tour…
3. I will post once a week to let you check my progress, and to catalog all the books I am reading.
4. If you want your book added to this reading list, EMAIL ME HERE!
5. Or if you want to recommend a book, let me know in the comments…
6. Here is this week’s book: WEEK 30 [July 23 - July 29] Social Media for Home Builders, by Carol Flammer

7. Ultimately, all 52 books will be listed. Here is the partial list:

WEEK 29 [July 16 - July 22] The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, by Tamar Weinberg
WEEK 28 [July 9 - July 15] The Art of Profitability, by Adrian Slywotzky
WEEK 27 [July 2 - July 8] Made To Stick, by Chip Heath + Dan Heath
WEEK 26 [June 25 - July 1] Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan + Julien Smith
WEEK 25 [June 18 - June 24] How To Become A Rainmaker, by Jeffrey J. Fox
WEEK 24 [June 11 - June 17] Guerilla Marketing for Consultants, by Jay Conrad Levinson + Michael McLaughlin
WEEK 23 [June 4 - June 10] 21 Things to Create a Better Life, by Todd Bottorff
WEEK 22 [May 28 - June 3] Sales Lexicon, by Carlos Quintero
WEEK 21 [May 21 - May 27] Rules for Renegades, by Christine Comaford-Lynch
WEEK 20 [May 14 - May 20] Delivering Happiness, by Tony Hsieh
WEEK 19 [May 7 - May 13] The Referral Engine, by John Jantsch
WEEK 18 [April 30 - May 6] How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
WEEK 17 [April 23 - April 29] The Inspiration Factor, by Terry Barber
WEEK 16 [April 16 - April 22] Ignore Everybody, by Hugh MacLeod
WEEK 15 [April 9 - April 15] Social Media 101, by Chris Brogan
WEEK 14 [ April 2 - April 8] The Dip, The Little Book That Teaches You When To Quit (And When To Stick), by Seth Godin
WEEK 13 [ March 26 - April 1] Rework, by Jason Fried + David Heinemeier Hansson
WEEK 12 [March 19 - March 25] The Little Big Things: 163 Ways To Pursue Excellence, by Tom Peters
WEEK 11 [March 12 - March 18] My Little Black Book To Success, by Tom Marquardt
WEEK 10 (March 5 – March 11] Selling To The C-Suite, by Nicholas Read + Stephen J. Bistritz
WEEK 9 [February 26 - March 4] Blue Ocean Strategy, How To Create Uncontested Market Space and Make The Competition Irrelevant, by W. Chan Kim + Renee Mauborgne
WEEK 8 [February 19 - February 25] The Leap, How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great, by Rick Smith
WEEK 7 [February 12 - February 18] Survival Is Not Enough, Zooming, Evolution, and the Future of Your Company, by Seth Godin
WEEK 6 [February 5 - February 11] Marketing: Unmasked, Insider’s Tips + Tricks For Success In Small Business Marketing, by Stephanie Frost + Erik Wolf
WEEK 5 [January 29 - February 4] Linchpin, Are You Indispensable?, by Seth Godin
WEEK 4 [January 22 - January 28] Permission Marketing, Turning Strangers Into Friends, And Friends Into Customers, by Seth Godin
WEEK 3 [January 15 - January 21] Think About It…96 challenging ideas to accelerate the methodical, relentless, continuous improvement of your sales process, by Todd Youngblood
WEEK 2 [January 8 - January 14] The Tipping Point, How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell
WEEK 1 [January 1 - January 7] Conventional Wisdom, How Today’s Leaders Plan, Perform, and Progress Like the Founding Fathers, by Rebecca Staton-Reinstein

It wasn’t too long ago that organizations didn’t allow employees to have email. Some thought that the evil employees would distribute double-secret company secrets across the planet…

Today, we still have organizations that prevent employees from utilizing online tools such as Facebook and viewing videos on YouTube.

I liken this to giving your employees a toolbox, but not letting them use the hammer, pliers, and any screwdriver. The toolbox is still a toolbox, but not of any use to the employee. Or the company.

Why does this matter?

1. Most seasoned sales gurus will tell you that you must build rapport with people before you can sell them. If so, then preventing them from using Facebook is taking away a window into the world of your most important prospects, and makes it much harder to find a common interest from which to build a relationship.

2. Forbidding the use of Twitter is like saying networking is evil. Because honestly, Twitter is the SAME THING as networking, but just done online.

3. Not allowing people to view YouTube and other video platforms is like expecting kids to learn without the use of textbooks. These days, video is an ever more important means of getting educated on a broad range of topics.

I just don’t understand companies that handcuff their employees, and send them out into the marketplace with their hands tied behind their back. They are at a competitive disadvantage to the growing multitudes who are learning how to leverage the social web to do amazing things, and connect with people in a deep and meaningful way, and grow their business.

I often hear that these policies exist to prevent security hacks. Maybe so, I just don’t have the expertise to fully argue that point, other than knowing that a LOT of large organizations do permit their employees to engage on the social web. This just sounds to me like an excuse.

Or I hear that some organizations do this to prevent people from horsing around and playing Farmville all day long. Well, sorry, but that’s your problem. You built the culture where employees are lollygagging…that’s not Facebook’s fault. Bring in employees who value the organization, fire those who take advantage of it.

There will come a day when we will say “remember those days when there used to be organizations that didn’t let you use Facebook?” We’ll all laugh and say, “Gosh, that was so long ago…”

But sorry people. We are in the new world. The world is social. People need to connect. People need to engage. Businesses do as well. Sending employees to fight “business war” without weapons is setting yourself up for failure…

What do you think?

CLICK HERE to receive email notifications of the latest High Velocity Radio Show podcasts!

*** THIS IS A POST AUTHORED ENTIRELY BY CHRIS BROGAN OF ChrisBrogan.com ***

Original Source: http://chrisbrogan.com/50-power-twitter-tips
June 16, 2010

Why Re-Post It Here?
1. For the 11 people in the universe who may follow this blog that don’t follow Chris’ blog — and really should have immediate access to this info.
2. Chris said it was cool to do so (see his first paragraph below).
3. This list is so good — has so much merit for our business and for the clients we serve . . . We wanted to visibly endorse it, always know where it is, and have super easy, idiot-proof access to it.

Thank You Chris ! — for both your biz-wiz and your zeal for helping others.

A while back, I wrote 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business. It still gets plenty of attention, as it’s listed as an official resource on the Twitter business resources page (thanks, @ed!). But you know, I can’t leave well enough alone, so here I am with another 50 Power Twitter Tips. Feel free to repost all or any of this, but if you do, please give credit to this link.

I broke them down into five categories: intent, technical, business, integrated usage, and off-twitter. Some could probably fit in more than one category, such as it were.

Here they are, sponsored by the Thesis WordPress theme (affiliate link):

50 Power Twitter Tips

Intent (Human Artist)

1. Don’t read EVERY tweet. It’s perfectly okay. You have permission.
2. Follow anyone who follows you (and unfollow spammers/jerks).
3. Promote other people 12x to every 1 self-promotional tweet.
4. Build lists to watch people who matter to you more closely.
5. Retweet the good stuff from others. Sharing is caring.
6. A lot of @replies shows a lot of humanity/engagement.
7. Robot tweets are less sexy than human tweets.
8. Promote the new/less followed more than the “names.”
9. Set an egg timer. Twitter is addictive.
10. Everyone does it their own way. You’re doing it wrong, too- to someone.

Technical

1. A non-standard background and face avatar means we believe you may be human.
2. Leave 20 characters or more space in each tweet to improve retweeting.
3. Use Seesmic or Tweetdeck or Hootsuite so you can see more.
4. Linking one update to several communities is technically possible. It’s just not respectful of each community’s uniqueness.
5. Tools like http://bit.ly let you see stats. Use them.
6. Make hashtags small and simple. We need room to tweet.
7. If software allows you to “post updates to Twitter” as well as to the app, don’t do that. We rarely want to see them.
8. If you develop software that pushes updates to Twitter, be VERY explicit how that works.
9. Every time you use OAUTH to give apps permission to use your account, you open a potential security hole. Check your permissions monthly.
10. The best mobile app is the one that you feel comfortable using. We don’t know better.

Business

1. Spamming us repeatedly is okay. We just unfollow you.
2. Spend more time in search than in chatting us up about your stuff.
3. Finding people who need what you’re selling trumps advertising to us.
4. Retweeting someone’s nice words about you is lame and doesn’t buy you more attention. Let it stand.
5. If your link is an affiliate link or a client, say so (in parentheses).
6. Your customers might not be on Twitter. Use rapleaf to find them.
7. Invite your customers to Twitter, then make it worth it for them.
8. Use Twitter as a personalized communication tool, not another blast.
9. Having different accounts for everything seems like the right move, until you realize it’s hard to grow multiple followings.
10. Just make money and then the boss won’t ask about ROI any more.

Integrated Usage

1. Twitter makes every event better. Post the hashtag everywhere. Make every speaker sign/label/name include a Twitter ID.
2. Apps like TweetChat.com make following event chats really easy. Put in a hashtag and go.
3. Tweeting the content of events is nice, but so is occasionally making a real live connection with the speaker.
4. It’s okay to tweet your blog posts, but try asking a question that leads readers into the post.
5. Can you invite Twitter followers to your other social platforms, like LinkedIn or Facebook? Sure you can.
6. I’m not into mixing my location apps with my tweets, but if you do, do it FROM the location app into Twitter, not the other way around.
7. Getting others to tweet your posts or news or registrations is useful, but sometimes comes off as a barrage or spam. Be prepared for that perception.
8. Tweets that point us to photos and/or video and/or music, etc, are always a great way to enhance the experience.
9. Please remove Twitter from LinkedIn. Use the #in tag instead and be selective.
10. Spammy or no, events that tweet their attendance registration seem to drive attendance.

Off-Twitter

1. Are your tweets really what you want to show in your sidebar? Doesn’t that direct people away from your site?
2. Think of Twitter as a guidance system to what you think is interesting. A lot of that is likely off-Twitter.
3. Apps like VisibleTweets.com are neat, but can be very distracting at events.
4. If you use tweets on a screen at an event, be warned if you moderate. Angry crowds can happen.
5. Don’t forget to invite people from off-Twitter to follow you on Twitter. Include your actual Twitter ID (I see lots of “follow me on Twitter” with no details).
6. Asking questions on Twitter makes for very interesting commentary and opinions for blog posts.
7. Tweetups are awesome, especially if you make them about more than just drinking and saying hi. (Though, hey, drinks can be nice.)
8. Outside of the Twitter app, keep “Tw” names to a minimum. We’re not your “tweeps.”
9. If your only marketing efforts are on Twitter, start building an email marketing list. Never put your eggs in one basket.
10. Start thinking in 120 characters (remember? save 20). Every bit of this advice is tweetable.

Your mileage may vary. Some of these might be really helpful and others might not be that useful at all, given your own situations. In fact, feel free to make your own version, add and subtract at will, and comment on where you disagree or agree. It’s all up for discussion. Besides, you’re doing it wrong.

Photo credit wilhei55

Guest Post by Carol Flammer

Have you created an Internet strategy that belongs on a farm? I live on a farm with horses, and I am a firm believer that silos belong in a field with the cows, not on the Internet.

Unfortunately many companies heard they needed to engage in social networking, so they jumped online and built sites. Now they have a Facebook page, Twitter account, Posterous, YouTube, LinkedIn and more. Each new social media effort stands like a silo in its own field, neither serving or being served by the green pastures surrounding it.

Well just as it is never too late to teach an old dog new tricks, it is never too late to create a strategic social media plan. Here are five tips to create a comprehensive online strategy. Get started now interconnecting those silos, building brand, increasing traffic and engaging in conversations with customers along the way.

1) Create the center of your universe – Your online program should center on your Web site, Blog/Web site or Blog. Make sure that you have taken every possible opportunity to interconnect your sites. From building your blog as your news section, to Facebook boxes, to email marketing to social sharing, there are many ways to interconnect these sites.

2) Own It – If you have built multiple social networking sites built as independent silos, tie them together with the one social site you can own, your blog. This is the single piece of your social networking program that can be built on your URL and controlled soley by you. You can index it, sort it, categorize it and perform your own SEO (search engine optimization). Remember you don’t own your pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or the other social networking sites. Rules on these sites change over time, but you won’t need to worry because your self-hosted blog is the center of your social media program.

3) Save Time – by interconnecting your program and making the blog the center of your social media marketing, you can save up to 50% of the time you have been investing! Instead of having to visit multiple silos to make updates, use the blog as your update tool. Simply post to the blog and set it to post to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Now you only have to visit one site, not four. Make sure to create an editorial calendar consisting of eight posts a month so your site content will stay current and relevant.

4) Increase Traffic – Focus on the ability of social media marketing to increase traffic to your main Web site. If you don’t have a strategic social media marketing plan to do just that, you might be missing 50% of your referral traffic and a large percentage of traffic from the search engines. AND your competitors, who DO have an effective social media strategy, are happily capturing your traffic and your potential buyers. A well-built Web site with a sound SEO strategy combined with an effective blog can increase your Web site traffic from 25 – 200%. With 85% of consumers visiting the Internet to search for products, providing ways for buyers to find your site is vital. Do you want them to have one way to find your Web site online or many?

5) Track It – What is working and what isn’t? It used to be said that 50% of your marketing dollars were wasted; you just didn’t know which 50%. No more guessing. Thanks to analytics and tracking reports, you can tell where your best quality traffic comes from and where you should be spending your money. Expect your well-built blog to be a top five referral source to your main Web site. Look for social networking sites to send quality traffic to your Web site or blog – visitors who spend three to six minutes onsite.

Silos may look pretty in the landscape and they may store plenty of grain for cows, but they are not a useful addition to a social media plan. By connecting your presence on individual social media sites, your efforts at individual sites have the potential to increase exponentially in effectiveness. Happy posting!

Author of “Social Media for Home Builders: It’s Easier Than You Think,” Carol Flammer is the “go to” for real estate and construction products public relations and social media. She is the visionary behind the nationally-ranked and award-winning www.AtlantaRealEstateForum.com, Atlanta’s most popular real estate blog. With 20 years of experience, Carol is known for creating effective strategies that create impressions and brand, as well as drive traffic to Web sites and sales centers. Carol is president of Flammer Relations, Inc., and managing partner of mRELEVANCE, LLC, an Internet Marketing, Social Media and Public Relations firm with offices in Atlanta and Chicago. Carol is a frequent speaker at tradeshows including the International Builders Show, Century 21 Building Show and the Southern Building Show. She speaks frequently to Sales and Marketing Councils and teaches social media seminars at home builders associations around the country.

mRELEVANCE is a public relations, Internet marketing and social media firm that operates at the intersection of social and search to build online and off line relationships. Effectively syndicating well written, targeted content through the power of traditional pr, social media and search engine optimization, we create relevant, measurable campaigns with proven Return on Investment. Our case studies and client successes speak for themselves. When you are ready to create and effective, strategic Internet marketing program with measurable results, call us! 770-383-3360 or www.mRELEVANCE.com

[photo credit from StArHaCkT on flickr]

I have been doing a lot of thinking about conversations.

As I reflect on my marketing successes over the years, I realized that all of my sales happened as a result of conversations.

Mine…and those of others who were talking about me.

I sometimes wonder if we spend too much time worried about incubators, funnels, tactics, strategies, methodologies…at the end of the day, it seems the process is simple: First, identify someone worth knowing. Next, find a way to initiate a conversation. This leads to a relationship. A trusted relationship leads to sales.

So, here are 10 ways – using the social web – to initiate conversation:

1. Twitter is the easiest, simplest, and most obvious means to start a conversation. Except it doesn’t seem obvious to about 90% of the planet. Here is a post I wrote on Intrepid to give you simple, easy-to-recognize cues to start a dialog with someone you want to know.

2. If I hear “I don’t understand Foursquare or Gowalla” once more, I am going to find a looney bin on Foursquare…and check-in myself. If you followed the first step stated above, and identified someone important for you to get to know, the point of using the social web is to then MONITOR them. Watch them, listen to them, see what they are doing. If they check in on Foursquare at a cool restaurant, or at Barnes + Noble, or at a local movie theater, it should be obvious what to do next to launch a conversation. [Hint: ask how their meal was, what book did they buy?, what film did you see?]

3. If you read blogs, that’s great. Great learning to be had there. But if you aren’t COMMENTING on them, you are missing out on amazing opportunities to meet and engage with people, especially the blogger herself. So, if you tell me social media doesn’t work, AND you aren’t commenting on relevant industry blogs, then you might as well fry burgers for a living. [by the way, if you asked my opinion on what the most important sales task one should perform on the social web? I'd say commenting on blogs is #1, by several lengths...]

3.5. Write and publish your own blog. Blog about things that matter to you. Blog about things that matter to your target audience. Encourage participation. And when people comment? RESPOND! That’s the whole bloody point. If you aren’t the number one commenter on your own blog, you deserve to be clubbed over the head with a baseball bat.

4. Host a radio show or participatory podcast. Far and away the easiest way to meet people who matter, people who matter to your business. So you tell me…which is easier? Cold-calling? Or inviting someone onto your radio show… [you have one second to answer...]

I thought so.

5. My colleague Stone Payton wrote a post just last week about the power of wearing logowear. Now, we all know I am as cool and hip as they come (hospitable comments only), and up to speed on the latest styles. Wearing logos on your clothes isn’t very stylish. AT ALL. So why is this relevant? Because people who wear logos on their clothes want to talk about the logos on their clothes. They are proud of it. They have a story to tell. They want to talk about it. So, get off your ass and ask them about it.

OBVIOUS points below, but necessary to mention…

6. Got someone you want to get to know? And they have a blog? Subscribe to their RSS feed. Right now. You will be notified when their latest post has been published. This is your cue to read the post and comment. Easy.

7. Monitor what people are saying and posting on Facebook. Wish them happy birthday, and ask what they are doing to celebrate. Don’t care about their family photos to Disney World? Then you are a fool, because that’s an obvious conversation starter. Facebook gives you THOUSANDS of clues every day about how to start conversations. Unless you aren’t reading people’s Walls, or have your head buried in the sand, there is a long list of the things they LIKE. These are prompts for you to start conversations… [Important note: this assumes you haven't bought into this crap about Facebook only being for friends and family. Pull head out of fanny and join 400 million of the rest of us...]

8. If you are a business person, you are probably on LinkedIn. But most people don’t use LinkedIn to start conversations. Got someone you want to get to know? See what groups they are active in. Are they posing and/or answering questions? Well then, join the fray. [I mean really...if they pose a question in a group discussion? Come on, they are ASKING YOU TO ENGAGE!]

8.5. Oh, another thing about LinkedIn. I have made the decision to NOT connect with anyone who forwards me the GENERIC invitation message. What a waste. What a joke. And what DAMN MISSED OPPORTUNITY to ask someone a relevant question…

9. Be sure you apply storytelling in your marketing. People love stories. People love to talk about stories. People love to share stories with others. Question: What do you do when you are sitting around the table drinking wine and making conversation with close friends? [answer: for those not paying attention, TELLING STORIES!]

10. Remember sites such as YouTube and Flickr are social interactive tools too. There is a reason videos on YouTube and photos on Flickr solicit COMMENTS. The people posting those items would love to engage and hear feedback… Did the video resonate with you? Did the photograph mean something to you?

So, there are “ten” ways to initiate and find conversations using the social web. There are more. Lots more. Care to share any other ideas? Please do so in the comments.

Point is, there is a ton of conversation going on already. The world is a big stage. You are requested, in fact encouraged, to play your part. So speak up!

[photo from SpecialKRB on flickr]

Guest Post from Dave Sutton, who blogs from Corner the Market!

In the 1960’s, entire families gathered around one TV set, to watch one program, with one sponsoring advertiser…in black and white, complete with snow and intermittent vertical hold problems. Aside from chatting with your neighbor over the backyard fence, that was the extent of “social media” in those days.

Fast forward to the 21st century and there are literally thousands of TV and Internet channels narrowcasting content to every affinity group under the sun. Likewise, there are hundreds of social media channels, from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to LinkedIn and Plaxo and a wide variety of private social networks.

Today, the most successful businesses learn to mix different messages and different stories in different places, to network and connect with relevance to people across multiple channels and to tailor their value proposition to the specific needs of their target audience. In the near future, your business will be measured on its social media effectiveness – your ability to segment, target, align, reach, engage and manage your reputation across multiple channels in service of building trust and, ultimately, increasing sales and profits.

You need to get ready for a future where tangible, traditional media as we know it is gone, and where every business must stay intimately connected to the virtual heartbeat of its customers or face certain extinction. Its time to stop experimenting and playing with the various social networks…. you need to integrate and measure them as the cornerstone of your marketing strategy.

I hope your brand or company’s social media calendar is full!

At a recent meeting of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) I shared TopRight’s perspective on the Impact of Social Media. You can download the full presentation at: The Impact of Social Media to learn more.

You have been fortunate to be a guest on the High Velocity Radio Show. Your life is about to change. Oprah will likely be calling soon. The world tour to promote your book will start soon…

Well, maybe not, but because you took the time to appear on the show, you now have some tools to help promote you and what you do. Don’t let them slip away. So we present a short series on this blog about how our guests can maximize this experience.

Part 3 – Share the High Velocity Blog posting of your radio show appearance!

OK, as a High Velocity Radio Show guest, we will publish a personalized post for you on our blog that will include a brief write-up about you, present your head shot and your book cover (if you have one), include the post-show video interview, and most importantly, two audio links: a brief excerpt from your appearance, and the complete interview.

Here is a RECENT EXAMPLE…

LISTEN. CAREFULLY: if you do nothing else, use this blog post. It was written for you. It is meant for one purpose – to help you promote you, your book, and your business.

Here are a few things you can do with this personalized blog post:

1. Hit the RT button and share with your Twitter network.
2. Share this post on your Facebook page.
3. Share this post on your LinkedIn profile.
4. Write a blog post on your own blog about your appearance, and reference our post.
5. If you distribute an e-newsletter, include a link to this post.
6. Share this post on Buzz.
7. Share the post on your RSS reader.
8. Share the post on bookmarking tools like Delicious, Digg, Alltop, etc…

Remember, the key here is the third party validation. Seeing a post by SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOU will give your show appearance some credibility. Take advantage of that.

And the more the post is shared around the internet, the more likely it will be found on Google, which will result in more people learning about you and what you bring to the market.

All you had to do was invest one hour in the studio with us. Let’s work together to get your post spread around the internet, so that your appearance continues to work for you long after you left the High Velocity studios!

Good luck, and we’ll see you in the fast lane…

CLICK HERE to sign-up and receive the latest High Velocity Radio podcasts!

[photo by haydnseek on flickr]